Tokens
by Pandorica 11
Summary: Everone's favorite Ex-Agent of Shield is sending Skye gifts from his travels. Grant Ward promised Skye he'd never hurt her, but she needs to tell him he already has. Mild Language.


At first it had been small tokens: A tiny ship in a glass bottle. A set of brightly painted Russian nesting dolls from St. Petersburg. A conch shell from Puerto Rico, of swirling pink and orange. Once, Skye had even received a large box filled with assorted creamy gourmet chocolate directly from Switzerland. It was a game, she surmised.

It was a kind of unofficial note from him, reminding her that he was alive, well, and enjoying a jaunt across the globe while she was stuck in the house arrest in which Director Coulson had recommended that she remain for the time being. When Simmons had visited Skye a week following Trip's funeral, she brought along a box recently arrived for her. It was an express delivery from a florist in Giverne, France. While Simmons checked on Skye's health and monitored her vitals for new signs of internal change, Skye opened the paperboard box and found a dozen while carnations. Sympathy flowers. Grant f*cking Ward had sent her sympathy flowers from France.

Simmons mouth twisted into a wry grimace at the gesture, but Skye chucked the box across the expansive room. It overshot the trash bin by several yards, skidding across the floor of the industrial room where Skye had been trying to sort through old Peggy Carter era files and convert the information to a digital format. A tedious task, but the quiet space had helped her relax and the monotonous worked almost distracted her from the pain of losing such a dear friend. Not a friend, a team member, a family member. The white bouquet had fallen to the floor but still looked frustratingly perky despite the tumble across the room.

"Well, your super strength hasn't diminished, apparently." The doctor said, brightly.

"I suppose it would be childish to walk all the way over there, just to trample the flowers, wouldn't it?" Skye wondered, gazing at it, brow furrowed.

"Oh, I suppose it would be, but I wouldn't tell anyone." Simmons half laughed, half sighed, putting away the med kit she was using.

Skye didn't, though. Simmons left soon, offering an invitation for Skye to join her in the lab, but she gave he regular excuse of needing to get back to work, and let Simmons get back to hers. It was a good two hours later, when Skye got up from her spot at her drafting table to get a refill of coffee that she actually got close to the bouquet, and noticed a note pinned to it. This was new. He had never included a note with his tokens before.

Skye picked the cream colored envelope up from the floor carefully, eyeing it with the same mistrust she would have eyed it's giver. It felt crisp in her hands, and she opened it carefully, half expecting treacherous paper cuts from the thing.

_Skye,_

it read in a clean hand,

_Antoine was my partner for many years, we were a team, a family. I cannot imagine what pain his loss means for you, but know that I knew him too. I know that he lived a complete life, maybe two or three complete lives. In our line of work, we have so many experiences we may as well live multiple lives. I only hope one day you learn to forgive my past one._

_ Grant Ward._

Skye almost teared up. Almost, until she read the last sentence, and wondered why she ever thought Ex Agent of Shield Grant Ward could ever do something without an ulterior motive.

Skye walked to the paperboard box, and put the note, bouquet and box all into the trash bin.

She remembered putting those bullets into ward, and smiled. She wondered if they had left him scars, little tokens.

It would only be fair if he had given her mementos, for she had given some to him first.

Skye's health had remained stable. She had powers now, everyone on the team knew. They had the good grace not to call her captain America, or Thor, or the hulk, or heaven forbid, come up with a new superhero name for her.

Her identity hadn't changed. She wasn't Daisy, despite the ravings of the man who had called her his daughter. She was Skye. Simple, straightforward Skye.

Several weeks later, she went on a mission, a successful one. The team had gone out for gelato afterward, even Fitz, and Coulson said he was proud of her. Skye wondered how in all of god's green earth she had been lucky enough to have this team, this family.

The next gift was more elaborate, a brilliant red sari, embroidered in elaborate gold thread designs. Next was a box of highly polished wood from Morocco, with a note in ward's handwriting merely saying, "solve". It had no clear lid, but many panels, and to her dismay, Skye spent a whole afternoon sliding the panels around, trying to find the opening. When she did, (of course she did, she was a hacker, a problem solver, of course she found a way in eventually) there inside was another note with an address and a date and time. Skye scoffed at the requested rendezvous, but put the note back into the puzzle, and set it aside.

The next gift was a jade bracelet that also found a home in the puzzle box. As if she would actually wear it.

The next was a bottle of red wine from Italy, then a lace mantilla handmade in Madrid, then a delicate snow globe from New York City. He had returned to the United States, apparently.

So he was getting closer.

Skye shook the globe, watching the snow fall on a miniature Empire State Building, and realized he was approaching the location of the meeting with each subsequent gift. She hadn't been planning on going, initially. In fact, she wanted very much to see him go to that ridiculous city park bench that he had indicated on the card, and find that she was a no show. Although, for her to see his face, she would have to be there, which would defeat the purpose. And if she were there, how could she not ask him- tell him- what? How betrayed she had been? That would have been pointless. Well, she did feel betrayed, but this was beyond her personal feelings, this was about her team, her family.

Skye's mind was racing at this point. She needed resolve. So she did what smart people do, she faced her problems, but brought along a gun for backup.

It was chilly for the season, and Skye found she was glad to have bundled up for the encounter. She found him at the bench, waiting with his hands buried into the pockets of a black coat, with a grey and black striped scarf around his neck.

"Well hey there, Gru." Skye greeted him.

"I'm sorry... Gru?"

"You know, Gru? _Despicable_ _Me_ villain? The Black coat and striped scarf? Come on, we watched it on the bus. Movie night? Fitz even made popcorn."

"No, I remember now. I just hadn't intended to play the part of a villain today."

"Well." Skye pursed her lips, refusing to feel guilty for bringing on an awkward silence.

"I really just wanted to apologize. Again," He smiled at her with eye contact that made her feel the need to look away briefly, "for reasons we both know. And I was worried, I heard from Raina what happened in that underground city, she kept talking about the change you had gone through, and I...just wanted to see you, maybe to reassure myself that you are still, well, you."

"I'm fine. Ok? Still Skye," she frowned, "I didn't become a monster."

Ward smiled, this time like he was remembering something sad, "No, of course you didn't, you are beautiful."

Skye knew Ward found her attractive in some basic way, from the first time they met in the hull of the Bus. His truth-serum confession had always made her smile, looking back. But the way he said she was beautiful now wasn't funny, or joking, manipulate, malicious or sad. It was honest. So she coped with that knowledge the best way she could, and ignored the comment.

"Really, a New York snow globe. That's kind of cliché."

Ward shrugged, his breath coming out in white puffs like a dragon in the winter air. "Once you've been to so many places it's hard to beat earlier gifts. At least you didn't get an Eiffel Tower keychain."

"Small blessings, right." Skye allowed herself to laugh, and then asked, "The card with the flowers. Did you mean what you said? About being a team? How it meant something to you?"

"Every word."

"Then how could you," She was angry now, and a lump was rising in her throat, "how could you do what you did to Fitz? If you worry about people changing, worry about him."

"I was weak in all the wrong ways, when I did that to Fitz and Simmons. There isn't a day that passes that I don't wish I could go back and let Garrett just die there, and save them. He wasn't half the man that Fitz was."

"You're damn right. And neither are you."

"I was weak, and I tried to be strong, and now I just need to heal the wrongs I've made."

"Compassion isn't weakness. I only want to know, if you were on our team, part of our family, did it take that little effort to turn right around and betray us? Betray me?"

"Skye, I was never going to hurt you, I've told you before."

"You hurt them, you sure as hell hurt me. And it did, Ward. It hurt like death." Skye almost sobbed out the last word, but she finally said what she needed to say. She didn't look at him, but she knew he saw her tears. He didn't try to hug or comfort her, thank god. She didn't know if she could handle it if he used this as an excuse to hug her or get close or into her space. He waited, and said, "I'm sorry, I'm going to fix everything I broke, Skye. I promise." She saw him walk away in the periphery of her vision.

Somehow, Skye believed him. It didn't change history, but she had a feeling she wouldn't see Ward again until he had found some kind of path to redemption.

The next (and last) gift was a grey and black striped scarf, and she wore it more than she liked to admit.

**Disclaimer****: All recognizable characters and content belong to Marvel, everything else belongs to me.**

**Author's Note: Hey Team! If anyone who read Gushing Scarlet decided to forgive it's incompletion and try something by me that is more bite-sized, here is the promised one-shot based on Marvel's Agents of Shield. To new readers, thank you for reading! Review, Follow, and/or Subscribe to your heart's content.**

**Much love,**

**Pandorica**


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